CASH AND ECONOMIC CHANGE 973
leadership), but everything to do with the moral transformation produced by edu-
cation (kyohwa). Yongjo defended his reign by transferring blame to the popu-
lation at large; it was because the minds of the people had gradually changed
for the worse that it had become impossible for him to abolish cash, leaving him
no alternative but to mint more of it.
Even though he had been forced to mint more cash contrary to his moral prin-
ciples in 173 I, he was still skeptical of the advantages of increasing the money
supply. Previously Yun Chihwan had said that the more cash minted, the better
things would be, but Yun was badly mistaken. Many thought that minting more
cash would benefit the state rather than private individuals, but "private mint-
ing" or counterfeiting oflarge amounts of cash for private profit had taken place
as well. YOngjo also had doubts about the utility of melting down brassware to
create more copper for minting cash. Pak Munsu had formerly said that it was
wrong to melt down brassware because it was a daily necessity, not a luxury
item, and melting it down would cause hardship and distress to the general pop-
ulation. That was why Yongjo originally had intended to use cloth in place of
cash because he thought it would suit the simple and pure tastes of the com-
mon people.King Yongjo Canvasses "Public Opinion"Despite these ruminations about the material and moral advantages and disad-
vantages of solutions to the cash shortage, YOngjo decided to canvass the opin-
ions of people beyond the small body of government officials, a method that he
was later to use more frequently. He ordered the magistrate of Seoul and the
Office for Dispensing Benevolence to solicit the views of the people of the cap-
ital and provinces on minting more cash or introducing multiple-denomination
coins. Kim Yangno, however, advised him to restrict his search to the people of
the capital, not the whole country, and Song Inmyong urged him to dispense
with public opinion altogether and just make up his own mind. Pak Munsu also
suggested he simply order provincial governors and district magistrates to select
talented people to take responsibility for minting operations.^9
A couple of weeks later the debate moved toward a final conclusion as all
alternatives brought up for solving the cash shortage were presented for dis-
cussion. Cho Sanggyong, the magistrate of Seoul, reported that a few "knowl-
edgeable" gentlemen and the "masses" of the population of Seoul were
impregnably opposed to both multiple-denomination and Ch'ing cash, but they
did agree that more of the current small coins should be minted. Minister of
Punishments Min Ongsu also said he had heard the same views from the court
officials and commoners he had talked with.
Cho also reported that some respondents believed that the high value of cash
had been exacerbated because government agencies in both the capital and
provinces, not just the rich speculators, had been storing cash away and treating
it as an "immovable reserve," just as Yu Suwon had observed in his analysis of